Sixers vs. Celtics Postgame Quotes: “Our defense, in large, was what I had hoped.”

The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics 107-93 to take the season opener in what was a hard-fought, physical game. Ben Simmons stood out for the Sixers, showing agression on the offensive end in particular, getting to the rim at will on his way to a game-high 24 points. It was an overall solid team victory for Brett Brown’s squad to begin the year. Below are some of the most notable postgame quotes, courtesy of the 76ers’ postgame press release.

Brett Brown (PHI)

On whether the domination on the boards was apart of tonight’s formula…

It was because had we not have done that, we would have lost. On offense, we missed a lot of shots. I loved the fact that we got to the free-throw line as much as we did and I liked the war of attrition. We were trying to play as physical as we could and put them in foul trouble. Had our defense not been our defense, we might have seen a different result. Our defense, in large, was what I had hoped.

On Al’s night…

He was just solid all over the place. He’s just so intellectually ready to play. He’s in the moment and he’s ready to play. He came in when we had some foul situations going on with Josh Richardson and Ben Simmons and then with Al Horford and Joel Embiid. It enabled me to switch some people around. Then I had a decision to make at the end of the game. I thought that Al was just solid throughout and certainly solid during timeouts with his comments amongst his teammates.

On the vision he has for Josh…

There were a few other people that had opportunities on Kemba Walker, but if you look at his stat line, you would attribute a lot of that to Josh. Even some of the offensive plays that he made, the defense is what stands out to us the most, and it’s true for me to. He made some timely plays offensively and he just is that wired and elusive type of player that, as I’ve been saying, makes him a significant part of the glue to the team.

On what he’s seen out of Ben, including tonight…

I think that we will have a chance to see that frequently. He is just so gifted physically, but it’s also his mentality. You take that 6-10 body and that athleticism, that physical tank-like mentality, and it’s an alpha combination. He had a few turnovers that we wished didn’t happen, but in-large, I thought he had an excellent game tonight and I especially liked his mindset physically. He was trying to put his thumbprint on the game from a physical standpoint.

On the way the team set the tone physically…

It is apart of the blueprint. You see it in everyone of my many years in the league, the offense needs to catch up to the defense. If you play hard and you stick to the simple rules, there is a high level of accountability early. If you have a team like I have with the length that they have, I would expect the defense to be quite good and our offense, maybe not so. If we can get the defense to hold the fort and incrementally improve, we just need to get our offense to catch up and get more rhythm and make more shots. I like that type of trending.

On Matisse’s minutes and play tonight…

I think he’s incrementally earned the confidence of me and for sure his teammates. It’s true, you don’t find many rookies that can come into a team that we aspire to be, amongst people that can win a championship. It’s a rare air for someone to come into and find minutes. A rookie has done that and he deserved it.

Ben Simmons (PHI)

On finishing on offense…

That’s how we won honestly. Those runs were huge for us. I’ve been in situations where we lose to guys like that. It’s very typical in the NBA where a team goes on runs, so we had to go out there swinging and we got there in the fourth period.

On the team’s hesitations and miscommunications…

I think it’s just the first game jitters. Everybody’s nervous, everybody’s excited to play and be out there. It’s a lot different when the lights come on and everybody’s watching. Its louder. Communication’s a lot harder, but I’m happy with what the team did tonight. I think everybody, defensively, was solid. Everybody stayed together and everyone was playing physical with the ball down low.

On putting on the pressure…

We just tried to make it tough on them every trip down. You know, they have a lot of talented guys and we were just trying to make sure they had tough shots. I think everybody did a solid job of that. Matisse made a lot of great plays on Kemba. He was great out there for his first game.

Josh Richardson (PHI)

On his defensive skills against Kemba this game…

I was trying to use my size advantage. I’m a few inches taller than him so using my length. I know his shot, so I was just trying to get my hands around it, into his vision. I know it’s never easy to shoot over that and he’s one of the best players in the league, so you just got to try to make it tough on him.

On the defense allowing the team to take offensive risks…

Yeah definitely. You know, if you miss a shot, you know you got guys who are coming out of the other end of the court. They are not going to sit down and will look to get a stop. It makes the offense a lot freer, not taking the ball out of the net every time.

On his performance in the second half…

I think in the second half, all the extra stuff in the game kind of left. It was just basketball at that point. And you know guys are attacking the paint and everybody’s on top of this and it’s easier to play inside out. It opens up all the other looks because you’ve got guys they’ve got to double, who are going to draw hell every time they’re on the court.

Al Horford (PHI)

On the team’s goals of being a top defensive team…

Yeah, that’s one of the things that Coach has challenged us to be right now. Be a top five defensive team, with the kind of length that we have, you know. It felt like Joel was great covering for us in the back tonight, and “J. Rich” had a tough assignment with a guy like Kemba, but those two guys were outstanding defensively.

On Ben’s performance tonight…

Ben was unbelievable. Just his pace, getting to the basket at will, tough finishes, very, very tough finishes around the basket. He really just carried us tonight, that’s how I felt. Making the right play every time. Either taking it or finding an open man. It was great to see to be honest.

On playing the four spot…

I just knew that I was going to probably be defending the perimeter a little more and it didn’t really change my approach. I just prepared the same way and I was just really trying to do everything right, especially on the defensive end. I was making sure I was communicating, letting the guys know how we were playing.

Brad Stevens (BOS)

On how he thought the team played tonight…

I thought we did a lot of good things. I thought we competed. I thought there were moments where we didn’t protect the rim well enough as a team, but obviously we’re going to have to capitalize a little bit more on the offensive end if we’re going to win that game - whether it’s at the free-throw line or something from beyond the arc. You know I’m a lot more encouraged than discouraged. I thought we really came out and fought. It was a heck of an environment; we played a really good team and now we just got to get better.

We were kind of out of sync on the offensive end a lot of the night, as far as shooting the basketball, but I thought we generated some decent looks. I thought the guys got to the rim and tried to get to the rim and I thought that they generated some decent looks from three. They just didn’t go in, but that’s okay. They make me feel their presence with their length and that was probably a large part of it too. They’re a really good defensive team.

On how he thought Enes Kanter played tonight…

I thought Kanter was great. He’s a little banged up, which is obviously not good for us, but I thought he was great. I thought he really did a good job in isolation. It allowed us not to always have to double because when we did, we left the rim occasionally.

On what’s next for the team…

We knew this was going to be a heck of a battle. You know, we’ve got to work and see what we can do better and improve from this, but it’s a long season, right. Our story isn’t written after one game, nobody’s is, and we move forward and try to get better off of it.

Kemba Walker (BOS)

On his first night as a Boston Celtic…

It felt good, just a little bit disappointing. Obviously, it was a tough night for many of us. Me, personally, I wish I could have played better and done a lot more for these guys, but you live and you learn. There’s nothing you can really do but just get better for the next one.

Gordon Hayward (BOS)

On how the responded to the constant lead changes…

I mean that’s the life of being on the road. It seemed like we would get a five, six, or seven-point lead and they would make a run and get it right back to two, feeding off their crowd and their little bit of momentum. Similar thing in the second half. It felt like once they had a lead, we battled all the way back and I think we were down three or four and brought it back up to ten, and that’s tough. I’m proud that we competed tonight, the whole night. I think there’s a lot of things we can improve on. I think we did some good things as well, but we’ll look at the film and get to play at our place in the home opener. Extremely excited about that but certainly a lot to learn from.

Jayson Tatum (BOS)

On what it was like facing up against Al Horford…

It’s all love, that’s my man … I mean when the game starts we not cool, but that’s basketball.

On the 76ers size and endurance…

I mean they’re a good team and we definitely had chances to win the game. We were up and they came back. I mean, they played a good game. We did miss a lot of shots, a lot of free throws, a lot of easy ones that guys like myself and others felt like we should’ve made.

Jaylen Brown (BOS)

On the 76ers defense…

They’re a good team and I tip my hat to Philly. They’re a good team. They came out and played well. I think we saw a lot of good things from us and when we come back to play them next time, hopefully we’ll play them better.